Pioneer City, once abandoned by humanity, attacked by the Orks, then reclaimed by Kester's Astra Militarum and turned into a frontline fortress, had reached its final chapter.
As the Space Marines' Thunderhawk Gunship flew over the city, a tide of Orks was engulfing it. Fortresses, gun emplacements, tanks, the Astra Militarum-everything was being swallowed up.
There was no stopping a Green Tide like this. Sitting beside a window, Lawrence watched a mob of Ork Boyz hack a Sentinel apart with stone axes, then turn its wreckage into a motorcycle for charging into battle.
The Orks' miraculous mechanical talent amazed Lawrence every time he saw it.
This expedition had cost him two hundred and twenty-one brothers, including his legion's Librarian and Chaplain, as well as the Chapter's most treasured ten-thousand-year-old Dreadnought. Fortunately, the Apothecary had collected plenty of gene-seed from their brothers, so restoring the Chapter's fighting strength would not take long.
The Commissar named Kester had been left in Pioneer City. Lawrence had originally wanted to take him along, since the planet had already fallen into xenos hands. But Kester's righteous words had changed Lawrence's mind, and he had made a special trip to return him to Pioneer City.
"I brought an Astra Militarum regiment here. They left their homes behind, fought and died, and now they rest here forever. And I'm supposed to cling to life? I'm tired. My incompetence killed them, so let me stay with them."
Kester had spoken like a martyr bravely going to his death, just like Lawrence's Librarian. Such a blood debt made Lawrence clench his jaw in rage until his teeth cracked, filling his mouth with the taste of blood.
Tyranids, Orks, Chaos Daemons-Lawrence's hatred for these inhuman things deepened once again.
The tide of Waaagh! did not stop after flattening Pioneer City.